Today, there’s an entire industry centered on obtaining – and maintaining – chiseled abs. They’re the subject of books and social media posts, while every action movie star seems to sport them. Pressure is also mounting on women to sport six-pack abs as body ideals for athletic women have evolved. All of this raises the question, when did the six-pack craze start? It may seem like a relatively recent phenomenon, a byproduct of the fitness culture boom in the 1970s and 1980s, when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo reigned, and men’s muscle mags and aerobics took off.
Greeks inspire envy
While I was researching Irish health and body culturesFrench historian George Vigarello and even pietyancient GreeceKinesiologist Jan Toddothersdistorted body imageElgin MarblesGreat ExhibitionBritish physical educationalist George Forrest complained that
Projections of military might
were renowned for their physical fitnessFriedrich Ludwig JahnDon Francisco Amorós y OndeanoP.H. Clias and went on to gain a following among Americans
The six-pack industry is born
writers from the 1830s and 1840s proddedEugen Sandowwho was once hailedlate 1980s and early 1990sGoogle NgramAbs of Steel6-Minute Absmore than 12 million
